Lager
Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company

LagerLager
Beer Geek Stats | Print Shelf Talker
From:
Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company
 
British Columbia, Canada
Style:
European / Dortmunder Export Lager
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
86
Avg:
3.78 | pDev: 11.11%
Reviews:
17
Ratings:
42
Status:
Active
Rated:
Aug 05, 2018
Added:
May 24, 2011
Wants:
  1
Gots:
  6
Our lager is a version of the Dortmunder style. It is a pale golden lager, that is balanced between sweet malt and dry hop flavours. The lager has a clean, dry finish with some mild fruitiness delivered by the US version of German Hallertau hops and traditional Polish Lublin.

18 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by spinrsx:
Photo of spinrsx
Rated by spinrsx from Canada (ON)

3.5/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Mar 02, 2015
More User Ratings:
Photo of Parmesan
Reviewed by Parmesan from Colorado

3.9/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
L: Pours a brilliant copper orange with a fizzy white head that is quite small and no lacing on the glass.

S: Cereal and sweet malt, mixed with a sweet caramel, and a light floral hop presence.

T: Cereal grain and malt mixed with a sweet caramel and light floral hop, a touch sweet but still nice.

F: Light to medium body and crisp.

O: Maybe a touch too sweet but still a very nice lager.
Aug 05, 2018
 
Rated: 4.11 by Tpop1005 from Canada (BC)

Jul 16, 2017
 
Rated: 4.25 by rrock44 from Washington

Jul 12, 2017
 
Rated: 3.28 by Eric_Standard from Canada (BC)

Jun 13, 2017
 
Rated: 2.73 by braican from Massachusetts

Feb 21, 2017
Photo of Kobold
Reviewed by Kobold from Canada (BC)

3.35/5  rDev -11.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Look: A lightly benighted field of straw

Smell : weed tangled earthiness and long wet hair whipping you in the nose. A former sour dough bread package flits by on the breeze of old cut flowers entering the fragrant stage of decomposition. Dirty yeast motes ping in the background radiance. An occasional waft of dead breath reminds one of ordinary mortality.

Taste: citrus infused dough becoming biscuits with a dash of dried orange peel fragments. On the side rest shy, muted candies. The imbibing ends in a big, lingering uncarbonated orange crush kiss.
Jul 01, 2016
Photo of Hat_Fulla_Beer
Reviewed by Hat_Fulla_Beer from Canada (AB)

3.9/5  rDev +3.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
355ml can poured into tulip.

Pours a slightly hazy golden yellow with one and a half fingers of fluffy white head that leaves scattered blobs of lace as it quickly recedes.

Smells of rising bread dough, breakfast biscuits, faint muddled citrus and mild cut grass.

Tastes of sweet, grainy pale malt, more nutty honeyed biscuit and more citrusy, grassy hops.

Feels bright and fizzy. Medium-light bodied with playfully prickly carbonation. Finishes off-sweet.

Verdict: Recommended. Solid hot weather beer.
Jun 08, 2016
 
Rated: 3.79 by Rukeli76 from Canada (ON)

Feb 24, 2016
 
Rated: 3.93 by Taybeh from Minnesota

Jan 09, 2016
Photo of headlessparrot
Reviewed by headlessparrot from Canada (ON)

3.96/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
Beer poured into my glass from a six-pack of cans (and, just as an aside, the Howe Sound Lager cans are maybe my favourite cans--just aesthetically speaking--in the country); a semi-aggressive pour netted an absurd amount of fluffy, loose head that recedes slowly to a finger but persists and leaves a lot of lacing. Colour is a slightly foggy copper/orange.

Smell is primarily bready, pale malt (maybe a touch of caramel malt as well?), accentuated by some nice light grassy floral presence. Fresh grain. Slight copper or metallic note, a gentle (not unpleasant) sour twang. Taste is fresh, crisp malt, with a decent amount of hop flavour--minus some of the hop bitterness. Grassy, bready, slightly yeasty. Dry. Faint citrus, slight tree sap, wood-chips. Medium-high carbonation, but good body.

The canned presentation wants you to believe this is a highly sessionable lager, but it's really not: it's quite dry, a bit heavy, and very flavourful. Easy to burn out on. And yet it's also probably one of the best Canadian craft lagers I can remember trying in quite awhile. So there's that.
Jul 22, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by Niceroad77 from Canada (BC)

Jul 15, 2015
Photo of biegaman
Reviewed by biegaman from Canada (ON)

4.02/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Howe Sound Lager has a boisterous golden tone that is deep and gives the beer a very full-bodied look. In contrast to most commercial lagers this one appears to be robust and quite evidently undiluted. Owing to such hearty maltiness highlights and head flourish while clarity struggles.

Malted grain is every bit as concentrated on the nose, where mildly sweet and gently toasted barley notes absolutely thrive. The aroma may be straightforward but nothing so commanding should be called simple; whereas I often quickly bore of smelling lagers, this one could keep my attention for hours!

For lager lovers, such a clean malty profile is where the heart is. Each sip tastes nourishing, comforting, and wholesome. Its bready, cereal-like flavour and its soft, lightly honeyed lingering is absolutely delectable. Bottom line: beer doesn't get more approachable than this.

Few, if any, of the world's beverages provide the satiation and satisfaction of a Dortmund- or Munich-style lager. And yet so few micros (in Canada, anyhow) attempt them. While this is often for practical or financial reasons, it must be said that few craft brewers are all that adept at making lagers...

But Howe Sound's brewmaster has a skill set that clearly extends to lagers as well. I wouldn't hesitate to call this the best craft lager in Canada. Mind you, I've been so impressed by the quality and variety of their offerings I already considered Howe Sound one of the country's premier microbreweries.
May 16, 2015
 
Rated: 3.36 by HoppySeb from Washington

Feb 17, 2015
 
Rated: 3.76 by liamt07 from Canada (ON)

Feb 14, 2015
 
Rated: 3.69 by Mr_Rocca from Canada (QC)

Feb 14, 2015
 
Rated: 3.85 by Bf_89 from Canada (ON)

Jan 29, 2015
 
Rated: 3.75 by TheSevenDuffs from Canada (ON)

Jan 12, 2015
 
Rated: 4.07 by MJ63 from Canada (ON)

Jan 12, 2015
Photo of thehyperduck
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)

3.86/5  rDev +2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
355 mL can from a six-pack picked up at the LCBO; no packaging information. Served at refrigerator temperature.

Pours a foggy golden-amber hue, topped with one finger of white-coloured froth. It seeps away rapidly over the next minute or so, with only a thin collar and some scant lace remaining behind. The aroma is simple, but appropriate for this style - biscuity malts, grainy sweetness, some honey and green apples, along with grassy, somewhat floral hop undertones.

Nothing but clean-tasting German lager goodness in this one. Pale, grainy malt sweetness and lightly toasted biscuits are the dominant flavours, with some vaguely fruity notes in the background. The hops finish things off, providing a mildly floral, somewhat earthy note that contributes to a slightly bittersweet finish. Light-medium in body, with assertive carbonation that still comes off a little lighter than most imported lagers. Very drinkable, and beautifully balanced.

Final Grade: 3.86, a solid B+. This is not really one of my favourite German lager styles, but Howe Sound's Lager is still definitely one of the best Dortmunders I've had the opportunity to try. The malts provide a clean, biscuity sweetness that is perfectly countered by the grassy, floral European hop bill. This is not a complex beer, but it manages to provide everything I expect from this style in spades. German lager fans will definitely want to give this one a shot, but anyone looking for something straightforward to glug back in a social environment should consider this a perfectly valid selection.
Nov 28, 2014
Lager from Howe Sound Inn & Brewing Company
Beer rating: 86 out of 100 with 42 ratings